While attempting to execute a warrant for the arrest of South Korean , authorities said they were blocked by the president’s guards, the Yonhap news agency reported in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Seoul.
“Investigators are locked in a standoff with presidential the security service after showing search, detention warrants against Yoon,” the agency reported.
Authorities were at the president’s residence to execute an arrest warrant tied to his declaration of martial law in December.
“Two CIO vehicles have arrived in front of the [presidential] residence,” Yonhap News TV reported earlier, referring to the Corruption Investigation Office investigating Yoon.
Clashes between government agencies lead to tensions
“The execution of the presidential arrest warrant has begun,” acting President Choi Sang-mok said in a statement.
“This situation is a crucial moment for maintaining order and the rule of law in South Korea.”
If arrested, authorities can hold Yoon for up to 48 hours on the current warrant. They would need to apply for another arrest warrant to keep him in custody longer.
Yoon’s lawyers, however, disputed the validity of the current warrant.
Some 6,500 of Yoon’s supporters had gathered outside his official residence. Some ruling party lawmakers formed a human chain in an attempt to prevent Yoon’s arrest, Yonhap reported.
Investigators try a second time to detain Yoon
Presidential guards — who say it is their job to protect the impeached president — had stopped investigators from arresting the South Korean leader earlier this month.
Yoon’s as a likely means of attempting to remain in power left him facing arrest, imprisonment and possibly the death penalty.
South Korea entered its in decades after Yoon sent soldiers to storm the parliament.
rm,ss/jsi (Reuters, AP)
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